Hi a read
I have no idea sorry, I had not even heard of it until I saw your message today (but it sounds yummy!). Do they have a website, maybe you can contact them direct?
If you are only drinking it on NF days it really doesn’t matter too much how many calories are in it. Enjoy in moderation and keep those fast days under control 🙂

a read, Hi, check out fatsecret.com
1 glass (3.5 fl oz) of Port has 165 cals.
Passoa has 858 cals per 250 ml. See nutracheck.co.uk
Now I also like a drink but as I have said elsewhere I only have one body and one brain. Alcohol has a negative effect on both, subject to the amount you drink.
Alzhiemers may be a side effect of to much alcohol.
So yes, my view is that it does matter if you have a good drink on non fast days as your calorie intake will go through the roof and negate the good work on your fast days. I know, I have tried it.
Please try to cut down a bit.
I found that sparkling water helps for me.
Good luck.

I will look on the website; nutracheck.co.uk, Is that the right address?

I will try hard to cut the amount of alcohol down, But i do enjoy having a drink in the evening!! I had a glass of red wine tonight, if i do feel that i need a drink, Is there anything else that i could have, which would be low in calories? Would it better for example to have diet coke & Martini??

Gin and low calorie tonic, scotch whisky, diet c*ke and vodka (obviously not all at the same time!) are lower cal drinks… I was a big drinker before I started fast diet but have found it really easy to cut it right down to a few drinks once or twice a week. Try it!

I too have been drinking a lot more sparkling water, cold from the fridge is a welcome difference to plain tap water on fast days 🙂

I fast on a Monday and Wednesday including no alcohol. I usually use a Tuesday and Thursday as 2 non fast days to avoid alcohol in order to become healthier but also to introduce the idea of 5:2 system into other parts of my life. Two extra nights without alcohol.
Last night, Tuesday I really fancied a beer but I found that by focusing on the mental attitude that I use on my fast days I worked through it. So another positive day.
Many years ago some public houses cheated customers who bought shorts such as G&T by dipping the rim of the empty glass in a small plate containing a small amount of gin. The mixer was added resulting in the poor punter tasting the gin on the rim of the glass.
Now that may be taking it a step to far but could it be worth trying to fool yourself over a G&T?.
Good Luck.

I have been on the diet for about 3 weeks now, I am not losing weight. What do you think i am doing wrong? Two things i thought about; Would it help if i did 3 Fast Days, and do you think it would help if i didn’t drink alcohol at all, perhaps just Friday & over the w/end?

I am really struggling at the moment, so i would appreciate it if you could help me!

Hi, regarding alcohol concerns. You could also apply a variation of the 5:2 principles to drinking in addition to your two fast days which should also be alcohol free.
Mimi suggested incorporating the 5:2 principles in other aspects of our daily life to see if it has an impact. What about only drinking on two days, say Friday and Saturday?. This ensures a good start to the week but enables your body to recover from the alcohol intake while introducing the 5:2 principles in another positive way into your lifestyle.
Good Luck.

Basically in a third of a standard 13% strength bottle, 250ml is 228 kcal (calories). So in a whole 750ml bottle that is a whopping 684 kcal !

Since the bottle is 13% strength it means in a 750ml bottle there is 0.13 x 750ml of pure alcohol or about 98ml of the neat stuff. This means that 1ml of PURE alcohol is about 7 kcal.

So can you see that consuming lots of wine on non fast days is just going spoil your weight loss / control totally. On fast days, it’s absolutely a non starter. I know what some people think, maybe that they’ve fasted all day so they deserve a drink. Just don’t do it. You only have to look at the scales to see why.

Do you know that your liver has no nerves? Many people who drink think that because they feel ok that nothing is wrong. Drinking can cause your liver to become fatty and eventually cirrhotic. Do yourself a favour, cut back severely to help yourself, your liver, your brain, your weight, your family and your life.

So basically you would lose 80% of the benefits of one weekly fast day. (If the benefit of one fast day is 2000 kcal – 500 kcal => decreased calory intake 1500 kcal.)

… or that would be 8,9 kg of extra weight, which you would have to shed some other way. (And the same thing, if you drink once a week 5 pints of beer.)

I would not recommend using diet coke or light tonic either, because they cause insulin spikes. From my own earlier experience I would say that it is better to keep off from any kind of ‘light’ -product, and eat & drink the real things – in moderation.

All noted. Diet drinks are as you say causing an insulin spike for no real reason. Now is that really any good for your body? Can’t be surely.

Best to have a small amount of the normal stuff. Carbonated spring water that’s very chilled works for me with a slice of lemon or your favourite fruit.

Problem for most people is that annoying time between about 20:00 and 23:00 when those little neurons get firing in your brain, trying to tell you that your “need” a drink to relax etc. Just try a few days without it and suddenly you start to not miss it. Just try it. After that the next time you do have some it will taste very bland/bitter and you will wonder why you used to drink. Believe me.

That’s the thing with addiction, one is too many and 100 is never enough…

You need to distract yourself from it. Go for a walk. Play a game. Phone a friend for a chat. Go surfing on the net. Read the paper. Do the Sudoku or crossword. Even watch TV. Try having a few pieces of fruit instead if you like the sweet drinks etc. Find a way to get past the critical time.

I never really drank much anyway, so I’m no use for that side of things but there are a few really good posts above exploring all the ins and outs of alcohol and calories.

In answer to your other questions though. We would need to know how you are fasting to be able to give any constructive ideas why you’re not losing much weight really but some common things are:

You might be losing inches instead? A lot of people don’t lose weight right away but find that their adipose tissue is ‘moving’ around and reconfiguring the shape of their bodies. If you haven’t already done so, maybe check your measurements now and then leave it a few weeks and check again.

Did you start an exercise regime at the same time you started 5:2? Muscle weighs more than fat so you may be adding muscle and losing fat at the same time if you’re doing some kind of exercise that you weren’t used to before.

Have you put your vitals into the TDEE calculator and found your personal recommended calorie intake for fast days AND non fast days? For women (me) the averages are 500 and 2000 respectively but my personal allowance is slightly higher than that. I stick to the recommended amount on fast days but in order to help maintain the regular weight loss I’ve become used to I drop a couple of hundred calories off the allowance on non fast days too. Seems to help.

How are you actually fasting? very small meals 2-3 times a day throughout your fasting day? Or fasting from your last meal on your non-fast day, right through to your evening meal the next (fasting) day and then nothing til breakfast on the following (non-fasting) day? Some people seem to fare best on one version or the other and it can take some experimenting before you find what works for you, so maybe try mixing it up a bit and trying the other way if you’re worried about the actual weight loss side of things.

Good luck – hope you find a rhythm that suits you and manage to still enjoy the occasional tipple.

I’m only into my second week, so early days yet but I’ve been surprised how easily I cut my wine consumption. I’ve had many attempts over the years to cut back but never seem to to stick to the new resolution for more than a day or 2 before the wine sucks me back in. Since 10 days of 5.2 with pure water fasts on the 3 fast days so far I’ve cut wine consumption by more than a half. And I can’t see it being too challenging to go lower. That “more more more” crave just seems to have gone!
I lost 2 kilos in the first week which blew me away. The fast days plus a lot less wine really worked.
I’m not particularly overweight at 188cm and 85 (now 83) kilos but would like to chase away the slow creep up the scales over the last 20 years. I’m quite active kitesurfing when there is wind, and running when not but this is the first time I have been able to effectively cut both wine and weight.

Would it be allright to use nearly all my allowance on alcohol? I am on a fast day today but have a social engagement this evening I cannot miss and where I will be drinking without doubt- a container ship’s worth of willpower would scarcely make a difference. I figure a bottle of red wine is about 500 to 550 calories.

I obviously don’t do this all the time and realise it may be somewhat foolish, but hey everybody’s gotta cut loose once in a while ….even if it coincides with a fast day..

You might not feel very well if you did that!!! 🙂 As you say it is up the individual but you will only be consuming empty calories! Why not switch your fast day instead that way you can eat and drink and fast tomorrow instead? 🙂

I tend to only drink on Friday and Saturday nights but, as this could mount up to 1500 to 2000 calories (for both nights), I am trying to reduce my calorie intake on my other non-fast days to compensate. I don’t cut them on Friday and Saturday as I agreed with JFitzy in that I might not feel very well if I did!!